Bolivia's Lula -- or Che?

["Marvin Gandall" <marvin.gandall@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

An article yesterday by Marcela Sanchez, the Washington Post's Latin
American specialist, says Evo Morales, the popular leader of Bolivia's
Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), is another Lula who can be cultivated by
the US. In today's Sunday Observer,  Peter Beaumont says he's an incipient
Che. Morales finished a close second in last year's presidential election to
Sanchez de Lozada, who was toppled as president and forced into exile this
month by mass demonstrations led by miners and native peoples organizations.

The Post's Sanchez describes Morales as a "populist" akin to Brazilian
president Lula de Silva, and less dangerous to US interests than the more
radical secretary general of the peasants' union, Felipe Quispe. Therefore,
she argues, "Washington must fight the temptation to reject [Morales]",
whose continued support of Bolivia's current interim government will require
the US to substantially step up development aid and ease its pressure on
Bolivia's coca farmers. But the Observer's Beaumont is sceptical that the US
can change course and suggests that Bolivia is moving towards civil war,
with Morales in the role of "champion of cocaine producers and indigenous
peoples; socialist, anti-imperialist and America's declared enemy."

Articles reproduced on www.supportingfacts.com.


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